Microsoft Puzzle Challenge Puts RIT to the Test April 14

Students will compete in annual event against seven other universities

Students at Rochester Institute of Technology are ready to test their puzzle-solving skills to win prizes in a race against other schools. The annual Microsoft Puzzle Challenge will pit RIT students against representatives from several other prestigious universities such as Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell and Stanford at 1 p.m.April 14 in the Center for Student Innovation.

The puzzle-solving challenge will occur simultaneously at the seven participating universities. Students are asked to register teams of four participants each, which will work together to solve as many puzzles as they can in eight hours. This year there will be a total of more than 100 teams competing. Microsoft employee and RIT alumnus Tom Guzewich is the coordinator for the competition at RIT.

“I have run this event for the past three years at RIT and it always generates a significant amount of interest and participation from the student body,” says Guzewich.

Currently, RIT has filled two-thirds of the allotted slots for teams in the competition with many partial teams still awaiting participants. Guzewich hopes to expand the number of allotted team slots at RIT if all partial teams complete registration.

While this competition is geared toward students in computer- and mathematic-related fields, it is open to any undergraduate or graduate students attending one of the participating universities. Prizes will consist of Xbox 360s with Kinects and Best Buy gift certificates.